Author: Lizbeth DeSelm

Lizbeth DeSelm is a San Diego native and self-proclaimed Navy brat. Liz moved to Boston in 2005 with her family after landing a job in the Pharmaceutical industry as a research chemist. Her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Biochemistry afford her the ability to work collaboratively within a team of chemists to develop new therapies, most recently in the target area of oncology.
Before Liz went back for her Master's degree, she developed and implemented a science curriculum at a charter school in Long Beach. Then, during the course of Liz's graduate studies at California State University, Long Beach, she taught 3 semesters of General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry labs. After her move to New England, Liz continued interacting with science students, this time tutoring high school and college chemistry and biology students looking to raise their grades or prepare for AP exams.
Liz has experience as a member of a committee with fiscal responsibility, having recently served 4 years as a Vestry member for St. Paul's Church of Brookline. During her tenure on the Vestry, the community of St. Paul's saw many changes: the retirement of their Rector of 30 years, a Capital Campaign, a Rector search, the installment of a new Rector, the stock market crash, and the subsequent crash of the St. Paul's Endowment. Despite the many challenges they faced, Liz in cooperation with her fellow Vestry members, succeeded in overcoming many of the challenges. Today St. Paul's of Brookline is a vibrant community in good health with a solid fiscal standing, in part due to the work she put in.
Liz is very active in her community and strongly believes in giving back. She is a Hospice Volunteer with Hallmark Health & VNA, where she helps families in crucial and challenging times of need by providing caregiver respite and comfort. She has coached her son's U14 youth soccer team in Melrose since Fall 2012, and was an assistant coach for 3 seasons before that. She was recently elected Treasurer for the Roosevelt Elementary PTO.
Liz and her wife Tina have two children, Lance and Jaclyn. Lance attends Melrose Veterans' Memorial Middle School where he sings in the chorus and enjoys math and science. He plays soccer for Melrose Youth Soccer and Melrose United, and has visions of playing for the U. S. Men's National Team. Jaclyn attends Roosevelt Elementary, enjoys art, and is very active in her Girl Scout troop. Tina is a teacher and is also the troop leader for Jaclyn's troop.
Liz enjoys camping every summer with her family in Acadia National Park, cooking, and considers herself a life long learner. She enjoys campy science fiction novels and when not curled up with a book, can often be found out on the pitch playing soccer with friends.

At the January 10, 2017 Melrose School Committee meeting, roles were reversed as I was made chair of the Finance and Facilities Subcommittee while Chris Casatelli was made vice chair. While this change is small, the agreed upon process for the Melrose School Committee prosecuting the MPS FY18 budget was changed at the SC retreats in October 2016. Whereas before the department heads at MHS and the principals all presented their needs and explained how the superintendent’s proposed budget supported them, the SC has instead decided to focus on how the FY18 budget will affect 3 major themes:

Likewise, there will be more public outreach than in recent years, as I will be visiting school PTOs around the district to discuss this year’s process. Additionally, the budget timeline was made public in November 2016, giving the Melrose Public Schools Community ample time for planning.

How can you be heard? The simplest way to express your thoughts and concerns is to email the entire school committee – schoolcommittee (at) cityofmelrose dot org. An email sent to that address will reach all school committee members. Alternatively, you can attend our meetings, reach us individually or contact the superintendent’s office.

This is the Melrose School Committee’s last meeting of the calendar year. The agenda is full, but not packed. This is the calm before the storm of the SY17-18 Budget process, which begins right away in January.

One more thing to note: I will be hosting office hours once per month, starting this Thursday at 6pm at Eastern Bank on Main St. No appointment is needed, just drop by. I will be there for 1 hour, and will work to give more advanced notice for January. This is open to the community.

In case you have never heard of this event, the Melrose Human Rights Commission hosts a community-wide potluck dinner, for all Melrosians. This year’s event will be held at Lincoln Elementary School on West Wyoming Ave, and starts at 6:30 PM. Come join me and our neighbors as we enjoy good food and good company.

At roughly 7pm tonight, to start the School Committee meeting, there will be a public hearing on FY School Choice:

By definition, School Choice in the Commonwealth is the ability for students living in one school district to choose to attend a school in a different district. For instance, a student living in Melrose may pursue attending a school in Wakefield, or vice versa.

Some things to note about School Choice as relates to Melrose Public Schools:

Pg 60, “We have 30 school choice students and 4 foreign exchange students.”

Pg 75, “Melrose High School has welcomed approximately 29 school choice students. Melrose High School has accepted four international students this year 1 [sic] student is sponsored through Rotary and three pay tuition through our arrangement with Educatius International.”

As this is a public hearing, I encourage all who have interest to come tonight and learn more about this process and the impact on our schools.

On with the full preview!

There will be votes on:

The Consent agenda, consisting of:

SC meeting minutes from 25 Oct 2016 (not previewed in packet)

School building maintenance report (pg. 4)

Monthly budget summary (pg. 9)

Personnel Report (pg. 8)

2 Warrants totaling $398,145.38, one for $386,101.97 (pg. 11) and one for 12,043.41 (pg. 53)

Subcommittees:

Education Programs and Personnel:

Amend Standing of Interim Director of Finance and Administrative Affairs. This is to remove the interim tag from Marianne Farrell’s title, making her the Director of Finance for Melrose Public Schools. (not previewed in packet)

Policy and Planning

2017-2018 School Calendar (pg. 88)

School Committee Chair

School Choice Vote (pg. 89)

School Committee Action Items (pg. 90)

There may be discussion on:

Superintendent Announcements

Elementary Instrumental Working Group (pg. 3 )

Subcommittees

Finance and Facilities:

FY16 Annual Finance Report (pg. 56)

Educational Programs and Personnel:

Enrollment FY17 (pg. 59)

Foundation budget number for FY16 was 3400 students, for FY17, 3500 students (pg. 59)

On Sept. 24th and again on Oct. 15th, members of the Melrose School Committee met with Superintendent Taymore and MASC Field Driector Dorothy Presser to develop our goals and vision for the district. The primary purpose tio ensure we as a body are aligned and focused on our collective vision for Melrose Schools.

Much discussion was centered around the roles of the Superintendent versus the School Committee.

To define our overarching goals, the SC and Superintendent combine our goals with the School Improvement Plans to lead to desired student outcomes.Governance, simply put, is what the School Committee does. The Superintendent and her administration are the Management, responsible for implementing the vision,

Good Afternoon. A little bit of news before we move into the Agenda Preview:

The Board of Aldermen Appropriations Committee recommended for passage to the full board an appropriation of $400K for the use of “Design and Management Services” for the Modular classrooms. This was covered by my School Committee colleague Margaret Driscoll.

The hot topic many have been waiting for relates to the plans by the School Building Committee (SBC) for the new modular classrooms. You might recall the initial plan presented to the School Committee at the June 14, 2016 meeting was for modulars:

Representatives from the School Building Committee, Ms. Gaffey, Mr. McLaughlin and Mr. Scenna, joined the Committee for discussion on the configuration of instructional programs. The Superintendent provided history and invited the School Building Committee members to present their recommendation for the best approach. At their meeting earlier today the School Building Committee voted to add modular units to the Horace Mann, Winthrop and Hoover Schools for the 2017-2018 school year that will require Committee approval, and the School Building Committee provided the pros and cons of that decision. Discussion included making financial estimates for the modular units and build outs available for review, and support for the K-5 amodel as it makes the most sense and is supported by the community.

At the following meeting on June 28, 2016, the School Committee voted to approve the SBC recommendation for use of modular classrooms at Horace Mann, Hoover and Winthrop Elementary Schools:

I voted against the motion. My concern then was the lack of discussion or presentation to the School Committee about sheltering our children from winter weather and possible external intrusion.

Until the formal presentation to be given at the meeting tomorrow, I can not say for sure, but the plans presented in the agenda packet suggest there will only be modulars added to Winthrop and Hoover, and those new rooms will be connected to the main building by an enclosed hallway. Additionally, the plans seem to suggest Horace Mann will be remodeled, rather than have two new modular rooms.

The Melrose School Committee meets tonight to hear discussions on how the Melrose Public School Administration feels the opening of the school year has gone. While tonight’s meeting will have few votes, we will be discussing a variety of topics, including: the work completed over the Summer at Hoover Elementary School and the Learning Commons at MHS; The concussion report from SY15/16; and an update on enrollments across the district.

Speaking of enrollments, the number many of us were waiting for is 320. That is to say while we planned for a bump of up to 325 incoming Kindergarten students, we have at this time only 320 K students. The chart on pages 53 and 54 illustrate the increases in enrollment over time: 320 K students and 326 1st grade students, followed by decreases in the higher grades below 290 students per grade. Keep these numbers in mind as we move forward during the school year in discussions on the modular classrooms, staffing requirements and the budget.

Categories

Subscribe for updates

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 843 other followers

Author’s Note:

Content here is the author's and not presented on behalf of Melrose Public Schools, the Melrose School Committee, or the Melrose Public Schools Administration unless explicitly noted otherwise.

Opinions expressed are likewise the author's own, and not necessarily representative of Melrose Public Schools, the Melrose School Committee, or the Melrose Public Schools Administration unless explicitly noted otherwise.

Re-prints of public statements, press releases or communications by sources other than the author are not endorsements by the author, unless explicitly noted.